Russia is actually ahead of the United States on many issues championed by the American Left

We all know what it feels like to log onto the Newsweek-owned Daily Beast, or the puerile random listicle generator known as Buzzfeed, and peruse the invective-laden anti-Russian, anti-Putin screeds contained therein. These hysterical publications serve a function; that function is to convince members of the American public who might balk at militarism that today's Russia is a dangerous, dirty, backward, evil place, and its leader is some amalgamation of Dr. Evil and Emperor Palpatine.

Unlike during the lead-up to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, where the left took the lead in opposing the Bush administration's reckless Middle East policy, American liberals have more or less given Obama a free hand in his dealings with Russia and the Evil Putin. Liberals opposed the Iraq War, and spent many an hour arguing with Bushies about the errors of his foreign policy. It just so happens that these individuals turned out to be right, but their insistence on facts, logic, and commitment to the truth have gone out the proverbial window when it comes to Russia and Ukraine. "Putin is just like Stalin," my earnest, well-educated, liberal friends tell me. "His next target is Moldova and he hates gay people and Pussy Riot and now he wants to use prison labor to build the World Cup venues and he hates all women and doesn't support women's rights. I don't understand why you are so pro-Russian." I am pro-Russian because I can tell the difference between right and wrong. I can also realize when a country and a leader are being demonized to further an American geopolitical agenda. Furthermore, I can see that the more the United States tries to create some philosophical difference between the U.S. and Russia as existed during the Cold War, the more the former opens itself up to critique.

Sepp Blatter has said he will resign as president of football's governing body, FIFA, at an extraordinary congress of the organization. The sensational announcement comes just four days after Blatter was reelected as FIFA boss for a fifth term.

"I cherish FIFA most of all and always try to do the best for football and the organization," Blatter said at a press conference in Switzerland. "I decided that I should keep running in elections. The election now is over, but the challenges remain. FIFA needs restructuring, the FIFA delegates have given me the mandate. But it is not supported by other members of FIFA, fans, clubs. Those who inspire FIFA like we do.Therefore, I ask to convene an extraordinary congress as soon as possible to elect my successor."

Blatter, who took charge of world football in 1998, said he would be carrying out the duties of FIFA president until the extraordinary congress.

The new congress will take place between December 2015 and March 2016, the chairman of FIFA's audit and compliance committee, Domenico Scala, has said. He has taken the floor after Blatter.

About 50 people were taken to Salt Lake City hospitals Sunday night after reports of food poisoning at a homeless shelter, and some individuals were transported by bus due to the high volume of patients; firefighters said there don't appear to be any serious illnesses as a result of the incident.

Jasen Asay, Salt Lake City Fire Department Spokesman, said about 50 individuals from the Road Home Shelter, located at 210 South Rio Grande, were taken to nearby hospitals. He said they evaluated the patients and transported some by ambulance and others who were less ill by bus.

"This evening around 9:30, the Salt Lake City Fire Department responded to several reports of food poisoning here at the shelter at 210 South Rio Grande," he said. "When our crews arrived, they started evaluating some people down here at the shelter, started noticing that a lot of them were suffering from symptoms similar to food poisoning."

The patients were taken to hospitals for treatment of symptoms that included vomiting and nausea.

"We've transported approximately 50 patients from both the men's shelter and the women and family shelter to the hospital in minor condition, no real serious injuries, but a lot of discomfort," Asay said.

Asay said they evaluated numerous patients and transported about 50 of them, and he added that more patients may have sought treatment at hospitals prior to when first responders were dispatched.

The exact cause of the illnesses remains unknown.

A computer glitch forced United Airlines, the world's second-largest commercial air provider, to momentarily halt all scheduled domestic take-offs.

For 39 minutes on Tuesday morning, all UA flights expected to depart within the United States were grounded while the airline addressed "automation issues."

An advisory from the Federal Aviation Administration's air traffic control system command center said unspecified automation issues had prompted the FAA to announce a ground stop for all UA flights inside the US.

An increasing number of countries are banning Monsanto's cancer-linked Roundup herbicide, a.k.a. glyphosate. Others are banning Monsanto's GMOs. Meanwhile, Monsanto-funded U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton thinks "(t)here is a big gap between what the facts are, and what the perceptions are." Actually the facts are established: Monsanto's herbicides and GMOs are harmful to humans and animals. Several studies have demonstrated it and even led the World Health Organization to issue a warning against glyphosate's links to cancer.

In fact, Monsanto knew 35 years ago that its glyphosate was linked to cancer and other health issues. GM-Free Cymru discovered this while looking into the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) archives from the early 80′s:

There were many animal experiments (using rats, mice and dogs) designed to test the acute and chronic toxicity of glyphosate in the period 1978-1986, conducted by laboratories such as Bio/dynamics Inc for Monsanto and submitted for EPA consideration... but like all the other older studies they were and still are treated as Trade Secrets and cannot be freely accessed for independent scrutiny. That in itself is suggestive that the studies contain data which Monsanto still does not wish to be examined by experts in the toxicology field. It is also deeply worrying that EPA acceded to the routine Monsanto requests for secrecy on the flimsiest of pretexts.

However, archived and accessible EPA Memos from the early 1980′s do give some indications as to what the rat studies contain (9). Although the studies predate the adoption of international test guidelines and GLP standards they suggest that there was significant damage to the kidneys of the rats in the 3-generational study... In the rat study results, the changes in the bladder mucosa are significant because metabolites, concentrated by the kidneys, have led to hyperplasia that could be considered as a very early and necessary step in tumour initiation. (GM-Free Cymru, Monsanto Knew of Glyphosate / Cancer Link 35 Years Ago, April 19, 2015)

Somebody turned the fans off on 300,000 chickens to suffocate them—somebody who knows exactly how the industry works.

The chicken farm on Brewer Road, just south of the small town of Manning in South Carolina, is hidden away down a series of winding country highways, between a patch of forest and an empty farm field. On the morning of Feb. 17 the farm's owner, a Vietnamese immigrant named Hoangson Nguyen, was awakened by a frantic phone call. Nguyen, who goes by "Sonny," raises birds under contract for Pilgrim's Pride, the nation's second-largest poultry company. An employee who checks the chicken houses each morning was shouting over the phone. Something was terribly wrong.

Nguyen sped to the farm. That morning, when the farmhand opened the door to the first building, a sophisticated warehouse designed to hold about 20,000 birds, a column of steam had billowed out. Nguyen went into the control room and saw that the temperature inside was 122F. He entered the cavernous building. It was like a sauna: The giant circular fans used to cool the chicken house had been switched off. A set of electronic alarms had also been disabled. There were thousands of dead chickens on the ground, pressed up against the walls as if they'd tried to escape. They'd been smothered to death overnight in the intense heat. Nguyen knew immediately that this wasn't an accident. Someone had killed his flock.

Seventy years ago, there were between 3 million and 5 million elephants in Africa. Today, as the number of African bush elephants has dropped to nearly half a million, this magnificent animal faces extinction in some parts of the continent.

"If conservation action is not forthcoming, elephants may become locally extinct in some parts of Africa within 50 years," warns the World Wildlife Fund.

Others have said that elephants could be extinct in Africa within our lifetime.

Recent news about elephant populations has been heartbreaking. These wonderful animals are being slaughtered on a truly horrific scale.

Last week, it was reported that the elephant population of Mozambique has almost halved since 2009, due to poaching. There were over 20,000 elephants in the southeast African state in 2009, but last year the total was down to 10,300.

This comes on the back of news that half of the elephants in Tanzania's Ruaha National Park - one of the largest national parks in the whole of Africa - have been lost to poachers in just one year.

Worrying statistics have emerged, placing meth - the Asia-Pacific's most popular drug - at the top of its grocery list. Police seizures have quadrupled in five years, as production skyrockets in tandem with increasing economic integration into the world.

And it's a vicious cycle: the more economic opportunities increase for the region as a whole, the more the drug and its various derivatives are produced, which, in turn, leads to plummeting prices, according to a recent report by the UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Asian drug cartels are only too happy with this, as their profits soar, despite the price reductions.

Due to Governor Paul LePage launching direct political and environmental attacks against the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes of Maine, leaders of those tribes have recalled their representatives from the state legislature and are asserting their sovereignty from the State of Maine. "The Maine Indian Land claims Settlement act has failed and we cannot allow ourselves to continue down the path," Chief Francis said. "We're saying it's a failed social experiment."

In August of 2011, Governor LePage signed an Executive Order recognizing a "special relationship" between the sovereign State of Maine, and the sovereign tribes within the State. In this order, the Governor instructed all State agencies to include a tribal liaison, whose role would be to facilitate communication and direct policy in all areas of State jurisdiction in such a way as to include the voice and interest of native peoples. The Order instructs that "the State and Tribes should work together as one," and Tribal interests should be heeded when developing policies and procedures "on matters that significantly or uniquely affect those tribes."

In April of this year, LePage rescinded that Order. The new Order maintains that native tribes in Maine retain their sovereignty, but holds that they now have a "relationship between equals with its own set of responsibilities," yet declares that tribal lands, forms of tribal governance and natural resources controlled by the native tribes are subject to the laws and jurisdiction of the State of Maine. The takeover of lands was prompted by an EPA letter to the State, and claims that lack of Tribal participation in "the State's interests" required the usurpation of Tribal sovereignty. The Letter, in fact, actually supports the Tribal position, as the Tribal standards of environmental protection are much stricter than those of the EPA or the State of Maine. Those close to the Penobscot Tribe tell The Fifth Column that LePage threatened to sue the EPA over the proposed new regulations, leading the Agency to back down. LePage's Order, then, becomes a direct political attack against the Tribes in affront to their sovereignty and an effort to exact more control over the land by the State of Maine.

You wouldn't normally think of industrial bleach as being a miracle cure. Or any kind of cure for that matter. But that didn't stop Louis Daniel Smith from selling many gallons of the stuff by labeling it "Miracle Mineral Solution."

A federal jury in Washington state sat through seven days of testimony, alleging that Smith, 45, of Spokane, sold the toxic liquid as a miracle cure for numerous diseases and illnesses, including cancer, AIDS, malaria, hepatitis, lyme disease, asthma and the common cold.

It then convicted him of conspiracy, smuggling, selling misbranded drugs and defrauding the United States. He faces up to 34 years in prison.

Potentially fatal

In 2010, the FDA said it had received several reports of health injuries from consumers using the product, including severe nausea, vomiting, and life-threatening low blood pressure from dehydration. Consumers who have MMS should stop using it immediately and throw it away, the FDA said.

Evidence at trial showed that Smith operated a business called "Project GreenLife" (PGL) from 2007 to 2011. PGL sold a product called "Miracle Mineral Supplement," or MMS, over the Internet. MMS is a mixture of sodium chlorite and water.

Sodium chlorite is an industrial chemical used as a pesticide and for hydraulic fracking and wastewater treatment. Sodium chlorite cannot be sold for human consumption and suppliers of the chemical include a warning sheet stating that it can cause potentially fatal side effects if swallowed.

"This verdict demonstrates that the Department of Justice will prosecute those who sell dangerous chemicals as miracle cures to sick people and their desperate loved ones," said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer of the Justice Department's Civil Division. "Consumers have the right to expect that the medicines that they purchase are safe and effective." Mizer thanked the jury for its service and its careful consideration of the evidence.